Tuesday, July 09, 2013

2013 July Bangkok BKK Day 1

This time, my trip is a very short and fast trip.
Just 2 days 2 night, fly there on Friday evening 5pm+ and fly back on Sunday night 8pm+.
Just a short getaway from the busy city life.
I hope to have more of such short getaway to see see, walk walk and relax.

This is my second time travelling on plane and second time to BKK.
This time, I did maximise my experience and knowledge. No longer so damn noob anymore.
Due to having trying to save for school fees yet waiting to travel, I only bring a limited small amount of money there to spend.
So minimal until I didn't have extras for souvenirs for friends and colleagues.
Anyway I don't like to buy souvenirs because I don't know if others would appreciate the gifts be it food or things.
Buying souvenirs to me is a very stressful and headache thing.
To me, the best souvenirs are photos. Best if it can tempt you to wanting to pay a visit there.

Spot those cute tiger tails. Tiger Air is in Terminal 2. YAY!

We went for OSIM 15 mins leg massage before boarding. Shiok and now I am craving for it.
In future, I will buy one for my house.

Up into the sky. I love the flying up and down part.
This is my first time sitting window side seat and I am totally loving it.
However the most inconvenient part is when going toilet.

Thai people are really gracious. They queued up orderly in a straight line. There aren't any lines or whatever indication on the floor for them to queue.

Empty platform.

For this trip, the currency we changed is 24+, which is quite low as compared to last year December 25++.
There is really some differences. Last year, I had 1000+ baht more to spend.

During free & easy trip, there will always be lots of sudden changes or unexpected situation. This is where the trip will be adventurous.

The hotel we book is BUDACCO.
Things that was not updated, stated or error in the website.
- Airport rail link train intervals is 1 hour. Train ticket costs 100 baht. Upon reaching Makkasan station, you still have to escalator one level up to city link, pay 15 baht and travel to Ratchaprarop station. The only good point about airport rail link is the travel duration takes only 15 mins.
- City link train is a much better choice. It will take you directly to Ratchaprarop station. It cost cheaper of around 45 baht. The only bad point is, it is crowded and travel duration takes around 30 mins.
- The google map on the website mark the location wrongly. However the video that was shown in the website helps a lot.

The location is a bit harder to find for first timer especially at night. Once you know where is the location, it is very easy and fast. From train station to hotel is only a 5 mins walk.
Our flight is in the evening, so once we reach the hotel, the sky is dark, which make it harder to spot the hotel. My strategy is to walk towards the tallest building: Baiyoke sky hotel. The hotel is just in front of Baiyoke sky hotel. On the way to the hotel, the road is very busy with street stalls, people and vehicles. That area is perfectly safe. All you have to look out for are thief.

Personally, I really love this hotel from all other hotels I stayed in the world.
They have the best budget hotel finalist award.
They deserve it.

My first trip is a stay with Metro Resort hotel (MR hotel), so when I compare them, this hotel is like x1000.... better.

The pretty pink reception area.
The reception staffs and crews are all very smiley, friendly and approachable.
However, they don't understand uncommon English. Eg. Interval...
Everything have to be layman and straight-forward.

Payment for hotel room are done when you check in, wet towel and drink are provided while waiting for them to proceed the paperwork.
Clear instruction were given.

Free wifi are provided for everyone in the room.
In MR hotel, only one person can use the wifi at a time.
Wifi is a bit slow but still acceptable.
I love the part about pink hair dryer in the pink cloth bag.

After which, one of the staff will help us pull our baggage and bring us to the room.
The staff will help us open the door. (My Mum will sure stop them because she wants to knock on the door first.)
Then the staff will proceed on to introduce the room facilities and location of towel, switches...
Even five star hotels doesn't have such services to explain the room. (THUMB UP!)

There are many colours of room, I didn't specify so they gave us green room.
In future maybe I will request for a blue or pink room.

I love that they put the basin outside the toilet. I kind of don't like mirror in the toilet because it will become foggy about a warm bath.

The door and side window are semi-transparent. Love it.

The bottom left picture: I love the vertical hole behind the wall, it helps see if someone is hiding behind the wall.

Super heavy safe that cannot be easily carried away.
Further more there is CCTV in lift and exit of stairway.
Quite safe to put your valuables inside but we choose not to.

I love the no space under the bed.
I heard alot of spooky stories about under the bed horror.
Bottom right picture: View outside our hotel. There is nothing much outside. Best to just close your windows curtains.

I found 6 sockets in the room.

The corridor is quite yellow-ish lighted which makes the mood feels really warm.
There is nice spiral stairs just beside the lift.
So far, the whole hotel makes me feel very at ease and comfortable.
I am really afraid of creepy stuff when I am staying in an unfamiliar place.

SY spotted the smiling mushroom. LOL. These are banners in the lift.

Their TV channel menu.

Lots of delicious and reasonable price food.

Over priced.

I love their tips for tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.

After throwing our baggages in hotel and packed our stuffs, we taxi off to Yaowarat (200 baht) for red shirt (R&L seafood).
After trying, I prefer green shirt (T&K seafood). Their sitting area is much more comfortable and some seats are in aircon area or balcony area with spectacular views.

Their memory are only good in calculating cost. They forgot our rice and they forgot the other table oyster omelette.
We only had 2 persons so I think if we were to call more people to go, we can order more dishes and it will be more worth the price. Best will be 4 persons trip.
This meal with 4 dishes (oyster omelette, chill squids, black pepper crabs, stir fry morning glory, 2 coconuts) costs 900 baht.

After that we went Lin Zhen Xiang to buy crunchy bagua and egg roll pork floss.
I had tried them and they were super nice!!!
Crunchy bagua if eat big pieces will be quite salty, but if eat small pieces, it tastes very fragrant and sweet.
Egg roll pork floss tastes very fragrant of egg roll smell and after tastes effect tastes sweet.
When I return for my next trip, I will buy big packets and buy more.

Crunchy bagua small - 120 baht
Egg roll pork floss small - 70 baht

We saw worms crackers. I want to try next trip.

We tried the pomegranate juice for 50 baht. Taste quite nice but weird. Worth giving it a try.
Should try the durian and bird nest there too.
We didn't cause I totally forgot.
Should be careful of the gingko nuts (not to eat it at all) in the bird nest because it caused food poisoning in me and my friend the last time.

After which we tuk-tuk back to hotel at a cheap price of 150 baht. So in future, you all can slash the price to 150 baht.
The area below our hotel is very crowded with lots of street stalls. We went shopping around and look for Pharmacy. There are 2 pharmacies around the hotel. Both are not good.
I recommend the one near my previous trip hotel. It is along the busy main road that is opposite Platinum mall. When you walk further down to MR hotel, you can see the drugstore. The products there are much cheaper and had more varieties. I always go their pharmacies to buy Therma Plast pad, Shan Biao Yu and Cream for WQ Mum.

These photos are taken at the cheaper pharmacy.
Therma Plast is really very good for mense cramps. A pack with 5 pieces inside. The heat can lasts for 2 days. It will slowly heat up which takes around 2-3 mins once you place it on your skin.

I didn't expect that we walk the long walk out to Platinum mall from hotel and unexpectedly pass by the cheaper pharmacy. Further more, during my last trip, I didn't record down all the expenses so I couldn't do a comparison.This trip I did for every single thing I spend there.
Price @ near hotel pharmacy:
Therma Plast : 190 baht per box of 5 pads
Shan Biao Yu (white-small): 260 baht for 16
Dermovate cream: 195 baht (I managed to buy this at the cheaper pharmacy instead) (Lucky WQ~)

Before sleeping, we did hello kitty masks which is a gift from WQ when she went Taiwan.